October In A Bundle

Hi!

So I haven't written in a while.  I'll spare you the why because to be honest, I don't really know the reason.  Maybe it's because I haven't been feeling motivated/creative/funny/attractive/intelligent/articulate/awake/healthy/ human lately.  So there you go.  Pick a reason, any reason.  The important thing is that I'm writing now.  (Actually, what I'm going to do is just patch together paragraphs from the 5 unfinished posts that I did start writing but never finished for the aforementioned reasons.)

Also, New Girl is on in 35 minutes.  It's imperative that I finish this in time to watch that show since I believe that one of their writers did a subversive character study on me.  I mean yes, Zoey Deschanel's character is funnier and more charming than me, but the dorkiness?   I relate to it all too well.   We are soul sisters, but that's neither here nor there.  Let's get down to business, shall we?

In this month of October, we have:

prepared our house for Halloween.  Two years ago I wrote about how Mr. C and I have an annual argument over how scary we should make our courtyard for the trick or treaters.  This year I'm happy to announce that I have tamed the beast.  Our home was  relatively normal looking (and by normal I mean that there were no baby  doll heads on sticks decorating our front lawn.)

However, Mr. C had to have some kind of outlet for his dark side. One morning I walked out of the house to find this:

And when I got in my car the next morning, I found that he had moved her:

So it went for the decapitated Barbie throughout the month of October.  She has been placed in many compromising positions and is currently residing on a hook next to where we keep our mailbox key.

I don't want to admit this, but I do believe that there is a good chance that we are the weirdest family on our block. 

Anyway, our house was a hit again on Halloween.  We ditched the strobe light/scary mannequin guy this year and went with a Nightmare Before Christmas Theme.  We turned the courtyard into Oogie Boogie's lair by painting a bunch of props with glow in the dark paint and investing in some black lights.  Here's a little glimpse of how it turned out:

There's someone inside that Oogie Boogie suit.  Someone who sat very, very still while we passed out candy and then jumped out at people and scared the beejezus out of them as they were leaving.  It was so fun, but I'm getting ahead of myself.  I'll tell you more about Halloween later.  

Also this month we attended the annual Palm Desert Golf Cart Parade.  Yes, you read that right.  Golf carts, in a parade.  Golf carts are big out here.  We have lanes for them, much as other cities have bike lanes. We also have designated parking spots for golf carts at certain grocery stores and businesses. So, yes.  Pasadena has the Rose Parade, NYC has the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and we, of the Coachella Valley in this great state of California, decorate golf carts and make a parade of it.

I make fun, but it's actually a good time.  The whole valley participates.  Who doesn't love a marching band? 

Plus, there were bonus points this year because 9 walked in it.  We had extra fun embarrassing him as he went by.

This also leads me to a confession.  The day before the parade, against my better judgement, I let J watch some of Poltergeist with me and PG.  It was the televised version, so it was fairly safe.  They omitted the freaky stuff like the guys' face falling off in the mirror, which led me to believe that it would all be okay.  However, he ended up coming away from the movie with a healthy fear of clowns.  (Do you remember the Poltergeist clown in the closet? Freaky.)  And what do I, his mother,  do to him the next day?  Drag him to the Golf Cart Parade where the theme is "Circus Fun"and 9 feet tall clowns wave and leer at you as they meander past.  

He is now afraid to walk down the hallway at home in broad daylight, and I believe that besides being the weirdest family on the block, I am also the meanest mother of the weirdest family on the block-  with the poorest judgement.

Anyway.

Speaking of J, I know I've been writing about him often, but it's just that he's at this age right now where half the time he is cracking me and Mr. C up.  The other half of the time he's being an obstinate a-hole.  But the times that he's funny kinda make the other half of the time worth it.  One of those times was last week when at the bank, the teller gave him and Roo a lollipop.  On the way out he's sucking on his lollipop and this older gentleman holds the door for us.  J takes out his sucker, waves it in the direction of the guys face, and  tauntingly cheers "Bet you wish you were a kid!".

I can't wait to see what kind of adult this guy turns into.

The other thing we did in October was take the kids to the LA Museum of Modern Art to see the Tim Burton Exhibit.

It was lots'o fun and very inspiring.  Also, I learned that Tim Burton and I share a hometown of Burbank, CA.  Apparently, according to the exhibit's information,  Mr. Burton was so bored by Burbank's non-culture that he had no choice but to unleash his creative genius onto his sketch pad and wait out the time until he could leave.  I too, found myself waiting out the time until I could leave Burbank, but that had more to do with wanting to find cute boys who I didn't go to Kindergarten with and who didn't already know what a huge dork I was.  I guess you could say that though we had different motives, I believe both our paths to be equally difficult and our achievements high.  

Har har.  

The museum exhibit inspired our Halloween theme.  This year our whole family dressed up as the cast of characters from The Nightmare Before Christmas.  Matt was Jack Skellington, I was Sally, the kids were Lock, Shock, and Barrel, and 9 was Oogie Boogie.  This may be my most favorite Halloween yet.  

Not just because I made most of the costumes myself.  

And not because our house was the most fun one on the block. 

And not because my nieces, nephews, and sister provided us with hours of entertainment playing Just Dance 2. 

But because while all this was going on, my other sister was in the hospital having her baby.  You know, the one I wrote about here.  

Can I tell you, first of all, the "coincidences" that surround this situation?  When I found out I was pregnant with Roo, my sister had just, days before, been in Florida going through her first failed adoption.  I felt so guilty and ended up waiting for 12 weeks before I told her and the rest of my family about my pregnancy.  My sister, instead of being upset- which would have been a completely understandable and NORMAL reaction- was extremely excited and happy for me.  So we had her be a part of the pregnancy as much as we could.  She came with us to the ultrasounds and was in the room with me when I was giving birth.  She and Roo have a special bond.  3 years later, she called me within weeks of the anniversary of the failed adoption to inform me that I'm going to be an aunt.  She went into labor on my birthday, and although she missed it by 23 minutes, Elianna Tacy Alvarez was born on Nov.1, 2011.... right between my birthday and Baby Roo's- who was born on Nov. 5.   

If you don't want to call that Divine, than call it magic, because there's no way you can tell me all that is a coincidence.   

Besides, I've never had anyone named after me before.  And you know what? 

It feels really good.  

You all have a good night!